Voicemail transmission utilizing signals associated with radio band frequencies

ABSTRACT

A method for transferring information indicative of a voicemail to a recipient includes receiving a message via a voicemail system transmitted from a remote device. The method also includes storing the message in a memory associated with the voicemail system. The method further includes transmitting a voicemail notification indicator to a recipient via a designated radio frequency band for receipt by a recipient having access to a radio receiver.

DOMESTIC PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/071,572, entitled, “VOICEMAIL TRANSMISSION UTILIZING SIGNALSASSOCIATED WITH RADIO BAND FREQUENCIES,” filed Mar. 16, 2016, thedisclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention generally relates to the transmission of avoicemail message, and more particularly to the transmission ofvoicemail messages utilizing radio waves associated with radio bandfrequencies associated with AM and FM.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an embodiment, a method for transferring informationindicative of a voicemail to a recipient is provided. The methodincludes receiving a message via a voicemail system transmitted from aremote device. The method also includes storing the message in a memoryassociated with the voicemail system. The method further includestransmitting a voicemail notification indicator to a recipient via adesignated radio frequency band for receipt by the recipient havingaccess to a radio receiver.

In another embodiment of the invention, a system for transferringinformation indicative of a voicemail to a recipient is provided. Thesystem includes a voicemail system including a processor and memory forreceiving a voicemail message. The system also includes a configurablestatus parameter stored in the memory having either a first or secondvalue. A signal generator is included for generating a voicemailnotification indicator identifying the existence of a voicemail messagereceived by a predetermined voicemail mailbox for transmission to arecipient. The voicemail notification indicator being generated if theconfigurable status parameter has a value which identifies that thesignal should be sent to a recipient. The system further includes atransmitter for transmitting a radio signal utilizing a designated radiofrequency band. The transmitter transmitting the voicemail notificationindicator utilizing a designated radio frequency band to a recipient.The designated radio frequency band includes those bands in theamplitude modulated radio frequency spectrum and those bands in theinthe frequency modulated radio frequency spectrum.

In accordance with a further embodiment, a computer program product fortransferring information indicative of a voicemail to a recipientincludes a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processingcircuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuitfor performing a method. The method includes receiving a message via avoicemail system transmitted from a remote device. The method alsoincludes storing the message in a memory associated with the voicemailsystem. The method further includes transmitting a voicemailnotification indicator to a recipient via a designated radio frequencyband for receipt by the recipient having access to a radio receiver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages ofthe invention are apparent from the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one example of a processingsystem for practice of the teachings herein;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system for transferringinformation indicative of a voicemail to a recipient in accordance withexemplary embodiments; and

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating a method for a voicemailtransmission system utilizing signals associated with radio bandfrequencies in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In today's communication environment, voicemail messages are commonlyleft in place when a recipient of a verbal communication is notavailable. For instance, when a party utilizes telephonic instrumentssuch as a cell phone to place a call to a recipient, a voice mailexchange may be utilized in the situation the recipient does not answerthe call. In this situation, the caller is directed to the voice mailexchange to leave a verbal or non-verbal message to the recipient in therecipient's designated voicemail box. If a message is left, the voicemail exchange sends a notification to the recipient generally utilizingthe telephonic network notifying the recipient that a voicemail messageexists at their designated mail box at the voice mail exchange. Theindividual then has the option of interfacing with the voicemailexchange and in particular with their designated mail box to retrievethe message at a time convenient for them.

Advancements in voicemail systems are desired that enable end users tohave access to their respective voicemail messages when telephonic orcomputer networks accessing the voicemail exchange are unavailable.

Embodiments of the present disclosure present a novel voicemail deliverysystem utilizing radio waves associated with AM and FM frequencies. Inexemplary embodiments, standard communication systems can be utilized totransmit a message to a message receipt system. In operation, thestandard communication system is a networked system such as a telephonicsystem utilizing either cellular or land line transmission methods or aninternet system utilizing interfaces suitable for verbal communication,such as Skype®. While these systems are adapted for verbalcommunication, such systems can also be utilized to transmit non-verbalcommunications such as phone numbers and the like utilizing an inputdevice such as a keyboard or phone number pad.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment of a voicemailprocessing system 100 for implementing the teachings herein. In thisembodiment, the system 100 has one or more central processing units(processors) 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, etc. (collectively or genericallyreferred to as processor(s) 101). In one embodiment, each processor 101may include a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessor.Processors 101 are coupled to system memory 114 and various othercomponents via a system bus 113. Read only memory (ROM) 102 is coupledto the system bus 113 and may include a basic input/output system(BIOS), which controls certain basic functions of system 100.

FIG. 1 further depicts an input/output (I/O) adapter 107 and a networkadapter 106 coupled to the system bus 113. I/O adapter 107 may be asmall computer system interface (SCSI) adapter that communicates with ahard disk 103 and/or tape storage drive 105 or any other similarcomponent. I/O adapter 107, hard disk 103, and tape storage device 105are collectively referred to herein as mass storage 104. Operatingsystem 120 for execution on the processing system 100 may be stored inmass storage 104. A network adapter 106 interconnects bus 113 with anoutside network 116 enabling data processing system 100 to communicatewith other such systems. A screen (e.g., a display monitor) 115 isconnected to system bus 113 by display adaptor 112, which may include agraphics adapter to improve the performance of graphics intensiveapplications and a video controller. In one embodiment, adapters 107,106, and 112 may be connected to one or more I/O busses that areconnected to system bus 113 via an intermediate bus bridge (not shown).Suitable I/O buses for connecting peripheral devices such as hard diskcontrollers, network adapters, and graphics adapters typically includecommon protocols, such as the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI).Additional input/output devices are shown as connected to system bus 113via user interface adapter 108 and display adapter 112. A keyboard 109,mouse 110, and speaker 111 all interconnected to bus 113 via userinterface adapter 108, which may include, for example, a Super I/O chipintegrating multiple device adapters into a single integrated circuit.

Thus, as configured in FIG. 1, the voicemail processing system 100includes processing capability in the form of processors 101, storagecapability including the system memory 114 and mass storage 104, inputmeans such as keyboard 109 and mouse 110, and output capabilityincluding speaker 111 and display 115. In one embodiment, a portion ofsystem memory 114 and mass storage 104 collectively store an operatingsystem to coordinate the functions of the various components shown inFIG. 1.

In exemplary embodiments, a voicemail processing system is provided thatutilizes a voicemail storage and retrieval process which stores themessage in a dedicated message storage location. In one embodiment, thisdedicated message storage location is associated with a single voicemailsubscriber. The single voicemail subscriber has access to the dedicatedmessage storage location utilizing prescribed access means. Depending onthe preferences of the subscriber, the voicemail processing system mayprovide a voicemail notification indicator to the recipient. Inexemplary embodiments, the voicemail notification indicator istransmitted to the recipient utilizing radio waves associated with radiofrequencies associated with Amplitude (AM) or Frequency (FM) modulationfor being received by a radio.

In operation, the voicemail system can be integrated with acommunication network, such as a telephonic network which utilizeseither a landline or a cellular network for communicating a message froma remote device to the voicemail system. In an alternative system, thecommunication network includes a computer based network which is capableof transmitting a message to the voicemail system. In these systems, thevoicemail message is any message which is digitally processed by theprocessor and may include a digitally processed verbal message or adigitally processed inputted message such as message inputted utilized akeyboard or touchpad.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a system 200 for transferring informationindicative of a voicemail to a recipient in accordance with anembodiment is shown. As illustrated, the system 200 includes a voicemailprocessing system 204 that receives a message from a communicationnetwork 202. The voicemail processing system 204 has multiple optionsfor processing the voicemail for delivery to a recipient. As shown atblock 206, a recipient may have designated that no notification shouldbe delivered in a “do not disturb” or “hold” mode. Additionally, thesystem 200 includes a communication network transmitter 212 that isconfigured to transmit a voicemail notification indicator indicatingthat a voicemail has been received to a subscriber's mailbox on a remotedevice 214 associated with the user. In one embodiment, the voicemailnotification indicator may be transmitted either through a communicationnetwork which includes customary digital telephony or computer networksfor transmitting the message notification to a digital remote device.The system 200 also includes a radio transmitter 208 that is configuredto transmit a voicemail notification indicator over a designated radioband for being received by a radio device 210 associated with the user.In certain embodiments, the transmitters may be the same.

Referring now to FIG. 3 a method 300 for practicing the invention isdisclosed (in FIG. 3, “VM” is an abbreviation for “voicemail”). Inoperation, the voicemail message is received by the voicemail processingsystem at block 310 for processing and is stored in a memory at adedicated subscriber mailbox for subsequent retrieval by the subscriberat block 320. In the voicemail processing system, the subscriber isprovided selectable options for defining the configurable statusparameter at block 330 for controlling the notification and delivery ofthe voicemail message to the subscriber. In one embodiment, a voicemailnotification indicator is utilized for determining if the subscriber isto be notified that a voicemail message has been received and stored inthe subscriber's mailbox. This notification parameter includes a firststatus corresponding to a send function and a second statuscorresponding to a hold function at block 340. If the notificationparameter is set to the first status corresponding to “send,” thevoicemail notification indicator may be directly transmitted to therecipient utilizing radio waves located within a designated radiofrequency band corresponding to AM or FM frequencies at block 350. Ifthe message notification is to be transmitted via the corresponding AMor FM frequency, the end user has the option of subscribing to a publicfrequency used by a plurality of subscribers or a private frequencydedicated to a single user. At block 360, it is determined if thesubscriber is utilizing a private or public frequency. The availablecommercial frequencies are determined at block 370 for transmitting thenotification parameter. Additionally, the notification parameter mayinclude a third status to indicate that the voicemail notificationindicator is to be transmitted to the recipient utilizing standard acommunication network such as a landline or cellular network at block380. In this environment, an end user may control the delivery of thevoice mail via the notification parameter.

In this environment, the end user may hold all notifications in a “donot disturb” type of environment. Additionally, the end user may receivenotifications under normal conditions by designating that theconfigurable status parameter is set to “send” and the voicemailnotification indicator is “send” and the delivery system identified asthe normal cellular or landline telephony system such that the messageis received by the recipients remote device. Furthermore, in thesituation where the end user may be in an environment where access tothe remote device is not denied, the end user may utilize a radioreceiver for receiving a notification of a voice mail message byidentifying that the voicemail message should be sent but delivered viaa transmitter utilizing a designated radio frequency band correspondingto AM or FM frequencies.

In exemplary embodiments, the voicemail system includes a transmittertuned to transmit the voicemail notification indicator utilizing adesignated radio frequency band associated with the AM or FM band.

In exemplary embodiments, the processor evaluates the particularinstructions indicating if the voicemail notification indicator messageis to be sent and if so, via the preferred method. If the preferredmethod has been selected as being via the transmitter, the processorsends the voicemail notification indicator to the transmitter fortransmission over the designated radio frequency band for receipt by asubscriber.

In exemplary embodiments, the voicemail notification indicatoridentifies a particular subscriber mailbox. In operation, the voicemailnotification indicator may include a message such as “mailbox 123 has amessage”, or a more particular message which includes ancillaryinformation which identifies the message composer such as “mailbox 123has a message from John Doe or 123-456-7890”.

In the preferred embodiment, the respectively designated radio frequencyis obtained by identifying the radio frequencies located with theamplitude modulated frequency range or frequency modulated frequencyrange which is not assigned to a predetermined commercial radio facilitywithin a predetermined area thereby identifying unused radio wavefrequencies for transmission of the voicemail notification indicator. Inthis manner, radio interference will not be incurred.

In an additional embodiment, certain unused frequencies may besubscribed by a singular subscriber thereby providing a direct one toone corresponding frequency for that particular subscriber therebyeliminating voicemail notifications which do not necessarily correspondto that particular individual and thereby making that particularfrequency a “private line” versus a “party line”.

In an exemplary embodiment, the entire voice message could be sent tothe subscriber. In this embodiment, the message provider may be alertedthat they may provide a message which preferably does not containconfidential or private information and the message may be provided“publically” over a respectively designated radio frequency. In thisembodiment, a fourth status is provided which corresponds to “sendentire voicemail message”. If this status is selected, then thevoicemail notification indicator will include the actual message. Inthis embodiment, the voicemail is digitally processed by the processorfor transmission by the transmitter.

In an exemplary embodiment where the subscriber lacks access to a remotedevice such as a phone or computer, the person maybe swimming. In thisenvironment, the person may utilize a snorkel. In a particularembodiment, the snorkel may be equipped with a radio receiver. In thisenvironment, the snorkel may be tuned to a particular designated radiofrequency which corresponds to the subscriber's designated radiofrequency for receiving a voicemail indicator notification signal.

In exemplary embodiments, the respectively designated radio frequency isobtained by identifying the radio frequencies located within theamplitude modulated frequency range or frequency modulated frequencyrange which is not assigned to a predetermined commercial radio facilitywithin a predetermined area thereby identifying unused radio wavefrequencies for transmission of the voicemail notification indicator. Inthis manner, radio interference will not be incurred.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

1. A method for sending a voicemail indication to a recipient, themethod comprising: receiving a configurable status parameter for avoicemail message, said configurable status parameter comprising a sendfunction status and a hold function status; and transmitting a pluralityof voicemail notification indicators corresponding to distinct voicemailboxes are transmitted to a recipient receiver via a designated radiofrequency band based on the configurable status parameter, saiddesignated radio frequency band being one of an amplitude modulatedfrequency or a frequency modulated frequency.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein receiving said configurable status parameter comprises:receiving, via a voicemail system, a message transmitted from a remotedevice; wherein said voicemail system is integrated with a telephonicnetwork for communicating a message from a remote device to a voicemailsystem; and wherein said telephone network comprises one of a groupconsisting of a landline network and a cellular network system; andretrieving, from said message, said configurable status parameter. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein said voicemail system is integrated witha computer based network for communicating a message from said remotedevice to said voicemail system.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising identifying one or more radio frequencies located within anamplitude modulated frequency range or a frequency modulated frequencyrange that are unassigned to a predetermined commercial radio facilitythereby identifying unused radio wave frequencies as said designatedradio frequency band for transmission of said plurality of voicemailnotification indicators.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein saidconfigurable status parameter comprises a third status indicative of acommunication network selected from a group consisting of a landlinenetwork and a cellular network.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein saidplurality of voicemail notification indicators is a message identifyinga voicemail box associated with receipt of the voicemail message. 7.(canceled)
 8. (canceled)
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein saidplurality of voicemail notification indicators is transmitted to saidrecipient over a designated radio frequency band designated solely forthat respective recipient.
 10. A system for sending a voicemailindication to a recipient, the system comprising: a processor configuredto: receive a configurable status parameter for a voicemail message,said configurable status parameter comprising a send function status anda hold function status; and transmit a plurality of voicemailnotification indicators corresponding to distinct voicemail boxes aretransmitted to a recipient receiver via a designated radio frequencyband based on the configurable status parameter, said designated radiofrequency band being one of an amplitude modulated frequency or afrequency modulated frequency.
 11. The system of claim 10, whereinreceiving the processor is further configured to: receive, via avoicemail system, a message transmitted from a remote device; whereinsaid voicemail system is integrated with a telephonic network forcommunicating a message from a remote device to a voicemail system; andwherein said telephone network comprises one of a group consisting of alandline network and a cellular network system; and retrieve, from saidmessage, said configurable status parameter.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein said voicemail system is integrated with a computer basednetwork for communicating a message from said remote device to saidvoicemail system.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: identify one or more radio frequencies locatedwithin an amplitude modulated frequency range or a frequency modulatedfrequency range that are unassigned to a predetermined commercial radiofacility thereby identifying unused radio wave frequencies as saiddesignated radio frequency band for transmission of said plurality ofvoicemail notification indicators.
 14. The system of claim 10, whereinsaid configurable status parameter comprises a third status indicativeof a communication network selected from a group consisting of alandline network and a cellular network.
 15. The system of claim 10,wherein said plurality of voicemail notification indicators is a messageidentifying a voicemail box associated with receipt of the voicemailmessage.
 16. (canceled)
 17. The system of claim 10, wherein saidprocessor is further configured to: transmit said voicemail message tosaid recipient over said designated radio frequency band.
 18. The systemof claim 10, wherein said processor is configured to transmit saidplurality of voicemail notification indicators to said recipient over adesignated radio frequency band designated solely for that respectiverecipient.
 19. A computer program product for transferring informationindicative of a voicemail to a recipient including a non-transitorystorage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructionsfor execution by the processing circuit for performing a method, saidmethod comprising: receiving a configurable status parameter for avoicemail message, said configurable status parameter comprising a sendfunction status and a hold function status; and transmitting a pluralityof voicemail notification indicator s corresponding to distinctvoicemail boxes are transmitted to a recipient receiver via a designatedradio frequency band based on said configurable status parameter, saiddesignated radio frequency band being one of an amplitude modulatedfrequency or a frequency modulated frequency.
 20. The computer programproduct of claim 19, wherein receiving said configurable statusparameter comprises: receiving said configurable status parameter via avoicemail system integrated with a telephonic network for communicatinga message from a remote device to a voicemail system, wherein thetelephone network comprises one of a group consisting of a landlinenetwork and a cellular network.